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CONSTANT DAVID LUDOVIC ARTZ Dutch, 1870-1951 Constant Artz was born in Paris, the son of David Adolph Constant Artz (1837-1890) and lived and worked in Holland. He was a student of The Hague Academy and in 1899, became a pupil of T. Offermans. His father studied primarily with the Dutch painter Jozef Israëls’s, and became intimate friends with artists Jacob and Matthijs Maris. Their brother, Willem Maris, was a great influence on Constant Artz, and along with fellow artists Neuhuys and B.J. Blommers, Constant’s father played a great role in nineteenth century genre painting. Like his father, Constant Artz followed his love of nature and painted open-air cameos in a realistic style. He was particularly drawn to depicting ducks, and there was a huge demand for this type of illustration in the nineteenth century. ‘Ducks on a Riverbank’ shows the birds basking in bright sunlight, the artist’s play of light discernable on their downy feathers. This is an excellent example of a preferred milieu of the age: painting the riverbank with ducks either swimming or disporting at the water’s edge. |
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